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As a female serial entrepreneur with several businesses in Abuja, Nigeria, Olufunto Boroffice is ready to make a difference. In May 2015, she established her latest venture, Chanja Datti Ltd, a waste collection recycling social enterprise dedicated to tackling environmental waste and pollution in Nigeria.
Through the waste management value chain, Chanja Datti creates jobs for unemployed women and youth through its micro entrepreneurship program. Chanja Datti also promotes community environmental sustainability and relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on the 3Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
So far, Chanja Datti has hired 20+ women part time and trained more than 70 women on ways to generate wealth from waste collection. The company is also working to provide financial services for their unbanked employees with FETS, a Nigerian mobile banking company.
“We’ve seen that the money that our women collectors and label removers earn has been used to supplement what the family eats and pay for children to attend school,” Ms. Boroffice says. “We are proud to be part of the empowerment process for these women.”
Ms. Boroffice registered with WEConnect International in November 2015 because she knew that to raise the level of her business, she would need support. Moreover, she believes the education and global networking opportunities that WEConnectInternational provides to their members are invaluable.
The company gained global exposure when Ms. Boroffice was invited to speak at the WEConnect International Global Citizen Summit, where corporate members Johnson & Johnson, UPS and Walmart made a $300 million commitment to buy from women suppliers, especially those in developing countries.
“Standing on the stage with the CEO of WEConnect International, Elizabeth A. Vazquez…I was very aware that I had become part of a very historic moment,” she says. “As I mentioned in my speech, women business owners all over the world are not asking for a hand out, but a hand up…By buying from women and encouraging corporations to buy more from women, companies like mine can grow, create quality jobs and contribute to sustainable economic development and poverty alleviation.”
